Remco Evenepoel wasted no time whatsoever in bouncing back at the Vuelta a España as the Belgian champion followed up his devastating GC defeat on Saturday with a stunning stage 14 solo victory.
"Remco, all is not lost,” a roadside sign in French read on the route to the summit finish at Belaigua-Larrau, but after losing 27 minutes on the Tourmalet, the question of whether Evenepoel had the morale, let alone the leg power, to go for a win so quickly was a debatable one.
The answer was provided by the Belgian when he first got in a huge break in the first fraught hour of racing, then slipped away over the top of the first HC climb of the day, the Houcère, with only Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich) for company.
For the next 80 kilometres or so, including the ascent of the agonisingly steep and long Col de Larrau, Evenepoel and Bardet gradually opened up their advantage.
In many senses, just taking part in such a long break through such difficult terrain would have already confirmed that whatever had caused Evenepoel to sink so fast on Saturday, he was re-surfacing just as quickly.
But when the Soudal-QuickStep racer actually shed Bardet some four kilometres from the finish to go solo for the 49th career victory of his career, his desire to draw a line under what had happened - and ability to do that - could not have been clearer.
“It was a special one, one of the hardest stages I’ve won in terms of climbs, with ascents of more than an hour long and some super-steep gradients, all the things that didn’t go well in the first part of my career. Then, after the disappointment of Saturday, it was really hard to click things over my head,” Evenepoel recounted.
“But the two people who really got me through this difficult situation were my wife and Klaes [Lodewyck, Soudal sports director - Ed.]
“They talked a lot to me because I wasn’t motivated to start anymore; my big goal had disappeared, and there was a lot of disappointment. But the words Oumi said to me, literally, were, ‘Champions always answer with the pedals, and if you do it, do it for me. And that gave me the motivation to go for it today.’
Remco had had the roughest of nights, he said, after the debacle on Friday, to the point where he was waking and sleeping in hour-long spells at most. On top of that, he had a routine early morning anti-doping control on Saturday morning, which he ironically described as “not a nice present.”
“I was quite tired, but I could sleep a bit on the bus, and that must have been like a power nap. I felt energetic, ready to go for it, and that’s what came out of my legs today.”
If Evenepoel had started the stage with renewed morale, he could not have ended it in a better way. But even as his second mountain-top stage victory of this year’s Vuelta - and fourth Vuelta stage win of his career - was almost within sight on the summit of the Bonaigua, the way he talked on the race radio to his team made it clear that this win was far more than just for himself.
“I’m literally going to say what I said on the radio,” he told journalists afterwards, “I’m very sorry about yesterday, guys, I love you all.”
As for what actually happened on Friday, Evenepoel said he still did not have an answer. But just as his stage win made it clear that he wanted to turn the page on that particular chapter as fast as possible, in his press conference, his words underlined that message as well.
“It was a very bad day, I was sweating a lot, so maybe my body was a bit blocked, but I shouldn’t think more about it. I think the positives are important - tomorrow, the rest day and the next week.”
Quite apart from Saturday proving that he still has something to show in this year’s race, he also already has an eye on longer-term goals as well and how the Vuelta can benefit that.
“It’s also very important to get the Vuelta into my legs for the Tour de France next year,” he said. “A three-week race can improve your base shape, and also, considering Lombardia, it will do me good, so that’s also a reason.
“I’ve got another stage and now the King of the Mountains jersey as well, so already it’s clear that staying was not a bad decision.”
He has 24 points ahead of Michael Storer (Groupama-FDJ) in the KoM competition, thanks to his break on Sunday. Evenepoel said he was looking into defending that lead as another goal for the rest of the race, as well as more breaks. He was still 20 minutes down, he pointed out, so the GC was in no way an objective.
“The tricky part now will be jumping in the break; everybody wants to get in there with me, and even today, I had to try a lot of times before it worked.
“But for sure, hopefully, I’ll get at least one more, and also, I now have a big lead in the mountains jersey. I think that’s a new goal as well, to be in the mountains lead in Madrid.”
